GERMAN Rail (DB) has signed a six-year framework contract worth more than €90m with Kontron Transportation Deutschland for the construction of an updated telecommunications system for dispatchers, operating control centres and train drivers. The new system is interoperable with GSM-R but lays the foundation for a future upgrade to Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS).
Under the Gefo Reinvest project, Kontron will replace existing ISDN-based technology, including 3500 Gefos (GSM-R stationary telephones) with IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based switching platform as well as Kontron’s Mission Critical Services (MCx). This is implemented on Network Function Virtualisation Infrastructure (NFVI) delivered by Kontron subsidiary, Iskratel while Kontron will deliver its Long Live Carrier Grade Server.
In addition, the obsolete Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) based data network infrastructure will be replaced by a modern (Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching) (IP/MPLS) transmission network for networking the central components and the new IP-based Gefos.
